Some embodiments described herein relate generally to switch fabric systems, and, in particular, to a flexible physical interface naming scheme in a distributed switch fabric system.
Some known networking systems include a centralized control plane that can manage resources connected within that networking system. For example, the centralized control plane in such known networking systems can maintain a database associated with the physical location of the resources. Additionally, the centralized control plane can manage forwarding-state information associated with the resources. Such a centralized control plane, however, can become extremely large and unmanageable when a large number of resources are connected within the networking system.
Other known networking systems include a distributed control plane. The distributed control plane in such known networking systems can be implemented at various nodes within the respective networking system. The distributed control plane in such known networking systems, however, is not dynamically configured. As such, some nodes within these networking systems can be largely under-utilized while other nodes within these networking systems can be over-utilized. Additionally, such known networking systems can assign identifiers and/or addresses to ports and/or line cards associated with the physical arrangement of the networking systems. Such a naming scheme can limit the flexibility of the distributed control plane. Accordingly, such networking systems do not operate as efficiently as possible.
Accordingly, a need exists for a networking system having a distributed control plane with a flexible naming scheme that provides flexibility to the nodes within the distributed control plane.